An aerial view of the new Parliament building in New Delhi
| Photo Credit: ANI
Since 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs made 421 assurances in the Lok Sabha and 338 assurances in the Rajya Sabha, but ‘dropped’ close to 15% and 12% of them, respectively — the highest such share among all the Ministries on both floors of the House.
During the course of a reply or a discussion on the floor of the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, if a Ministry gives an undertaking which involves further action on the government’s part in reporting back to the House, it is considered an assurance. The parliamentary process is meant to act as a watchdog for the people’s rights, and so, the Committee of Government Assurances was formed in 1953 to make sure promises made in Parliament by the executive are implemented.
An assurance is considered to be “pending” if it is not fulfilled within three months of the date on which it was made. After this, the corresponding Ministry must either apply for an extension of this period or request for the assurance to be “dropped”.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs keeps track of these assurances and publishes their status on the Online Assurance Monitoring System (OAMS) portal. According to the website, nearly 65% of the assurances made in 2024 in Lok Sabha were pending as of March 24. In the Lok Sabha, about 44% of the assurances made in 2023 and 18% made in 2022 are still pending.
For instance, an Adani Group-related query made on March 24, 2023, by Congress MP B. Manickam Tagore questioned the status of completion of government-constructed ports. It implored the volume of trade taking place in Adani-owned ports when compared to State-owned ventures. The assurance made in reply to this question remains pending ever since.
Chart 1 shows the share of dropped and pending assurances in Lok Sabha between 2014 and 2024
Moreover, between 2014 and 2022, the share of assurances dropped, ranging between 5 and 11% . For instance, in 2021, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra raised the matter of investigating the Adani Group and the various foreign portfolio investors owning stakes in their companies. The Finance Ministry provided certain details and stated that SEBI was investigating the matter. This assurance was later dropped.
Chart 2 shows the share of dropped and pending assurances in Rajya Sabha between 2014 and 2024
Similarly, nearly 66% of the assurances made in 2024 in the Rajya Sabha were pending as of March 24. In the Rajya Sabha, about 36% of the assurances made in 2023 and 24% made in 2022 are still pending. Also, between 2014 and 2022, the share of assurances dropped, ranging between 2% and 15% (Chart 2).
Charts 3A show the Ministries with the highest shares of pending assurances between 2014 and 2024 in Lok Sabha.
Charts 3B show the Ministries with the highest shares of dropped assurances between 2014 and 2024 in Lok Sabha.
Chart 4A shows the Ministry-wise assurances pending in Rajya Sabha between 2014-24
Chart 4B shows the Ministry-wise assurances dropped in Rajya Sabha between 2014-24
As noted earlier, the Home Ministry dropped the most assurances across both Houses. For instance, former Lok Sabha MP Sirajuddin Ajmal’s question in 2014 on the State-wise number of reported terrorist attacks along with the number of terrorists arrested and killed was not answered and the assurance was dropped by the Home Ministry. Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s question to the Home Ministry in 2014 about the ‘out of turn promotions’ and ‘gallantry awards’ allegedly given to policemen involved in fake encounters was also dropped. The Home Affairs Ministry also dropped both questions asked by Congress MP Manish Tiwari on the Pulwama terror attack in 2019 and 2020.
Finance, Law and Justice, Road Transport and Highways, and Railways featured among the top five Ministries that dropped the most assurances across both Houses.
Source: Online Assurance Monitoring System
Published – April 02, 2025 08:00 am IST